Mediaboss Marketing

VIENNA Iran's official stock of enriched uranium has fallen by half after large amounts stuck in pipes have been recategorized as unrecoverable under a process agreed with major powers, the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Friday.

But before that process began last month, Iran came close to reaching a limit on its uranium stock, one of the most sensitive aspects of Tehran's nuclear deal, a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) obtained by Reuters made clear.

The agreement that the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia reached with Iran in 2015 restricts Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"As of 18 February 2017, the quantity of Iran's uranium enriched up to 3.67 percent U-235 was 101.7 kg," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a quarterly report on Iran, its first since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, a vocal critic of the deal.

That was about half the limit of 202.8 kg, but only after 100 kg of material at one plant alone was deemed unrecoverable and not included in the calculation.

The deal also caps the concentration of the highly fissile U-235 isotope to which Iran can enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, far below the roughly 90 percent of weapons-grade uranium.

The major powers and Iran published agreements in December and January specifying types of uranium that would be considered unrecoverable and therefore not considered part of its stock of low-enriched uranium.

"DOWNBLENDING"

One of those agreements defined a process by which Iran would flush out low-enriched uranium (LEU) from pipes and other equipment at a plant in Isfahan and "downblend" it to the level of natural uranium.

That process started on Jan. 31, the report said, at which point 99.9 kg of LEU was excluded from the total stock. Friday's report was the first to specify the size of the stock, since the papers published clarified what should be excluded. Previous reports had said only that it was within the limit.

Iran's stock of heavy water - a moderator used in a type of nuclear reactor that can produce plutonium - was within a 130-tonne limit at 124.2 tonnes, but that did not include 11 tonnes that Iran has shipped to Oman.

The Obama administration criticized Tehran after it went over the limit on heavy water for the second time last year, adding that the deal specifies that excess heavy water must be delivered to a foreign buyer.

Iran shipped 11 tonnes to Oman with a view to selling it later, which defused the standoff. But it continues to produce heavy water and the issue could yet attract the attention of Trump, who has said he wants to "police that contract so tough (the Iranians) don't have a chance".

(Editing by Andrew Roche)

NEW YORK U.S. demand for gasoline hit record levels last year, averaging 9.326 million barrels per day, surpassing 2007 levels, according to new monthly figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

LONDON OPEC has cut its oil output for a second month in February, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, allowing the exporter group to boost already strong compliance with agreed supply curbs on the back of a steep reduction by Saudi Arabia.

The White House on Tuesday denied that President Donald Trump planned to issue an executive order to change the national biofuels program, after the U.S. Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) said Trump's team had informed the group an order was pending.

Read more:
Iran's Enriched Uranium Stock Halves after Flirting with ...

An Iranian infant who was delayed in entering the U.S. due to the recent travel ban has successfully undergone heart surgery to fix a genetic defect, hospital officials said.

Fatehmeh Reshad, a 4-month-old infant from Iran, arrived in the U.S. to undergo tests and treatment earlier this month to fix a genetic heart defect, according to officials at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). The infant was born with a condition where two main arteries are reversed.

Fatemeh had been scheduled to arrive for treatment and heart surgery on Feb. 5 because there was no hospital in Iran that provided the complex operation that would save her life. The infant and her parents had been working with lawyers and other officials when President Trump's executive order was implemented, which temporarily banned most travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations.

The family arrived on Feb. 7 after working with the Department of Homeland Security, according to the family's attorney Jennifer Morrissey. And while the delay was only two days, her medical condition made the delay serious, Morrissey said.

Fatehmeh underwent surgery on Friday and is currently recovering, said Dr. Laurie Armsby, associate professor of pediatrics and interim head of the division of pediatric cardiology at OSHU's Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

"She's in the ICU and recovering as we would hope she would," Armsby said at a news conference on Monday. "Her heart function looks beautiful, so, we're very pleased with how she's recovering."

Armsby said the family did not want details of the surgery or Fatemeh's current condition released to the public.

Sam Taghizadeh, Fatemeh's uncle, said it felt like "a miracle" to get Fatemeh and her parents in the U.S. for surgery.

"In the beginning, I didn't have any hope about my family coming here," Taghizadeh said during Monday's news conference. "I said, 'Who is going to listen to me?' ... I was surprised how the people in the U.S. helped."

Morrissey said Fatemeh's family was informed of the cancellation of Jan. 27, when the travel ban was announced.

"The delay was just a few days, but obviously every day was critical given her medical condition," Morrissey said at Monday's news conference.

Taghizadeh, who lives in Oregon, said so many people reached out to help that Fatemeh's parents couldn't believe the strangers weren't friends of Taghizadeh.

"They asked me, 'Why these people [helping us]?" Taghizadeh said. "They couldn't believe it."

Taghizadeh also thanked the many people -- including lawyers, lawmakers and doctors -- who helped to get Fatemeh in the country for medical treatment.

"English is a second language for me and I couldn't find the words to say thank you," he said.

See more here:
Iranian baby delayed by travel ban recovering after heart surgery - ABC News

For days now, large swathes of western Iran have been covered in dust literally. Dust storms have overwhelmed the oil-rich province of Khuzestan. Air quality is reportedly some 30 to 60 times the healthy level. Power stations have broken down; banks, schools and offices were closed; water supplies were disrupted; and flights to and from Ahvaz were cancelled including, ironically, one scheduled for the regimes top environment official.

Wipe the dust off of Irans scenic Khuzestan province, and youll see an even uglier truth. What is happening in Khuzestan exemplifies the disastrous policies implemented by Tehrans fundamentalist rulers. While it spends billions to wage sectarian conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, the Iranian regime has systematically and unabashedly neglected the countrys ecosystem and economy for the past 40 years.

For years, Washington has viewed Tehran as the worlds worst state-sponsor of terror while, by some twisted logic, trying to placate the mullahs. The West, in general, has never taken into account how the ruled view their rulers. The Iranian people are grappling with unprecedented, devastating challenges caused by the ruling regimes policies.

Ahvaz, for example, has been described as the worlds most polluted city by the World Health Organization. Khuzestan lies in the Fertile Crescent, with more than one million hectares of agricultural land. Destructive policies, such as the unbridled construction of dams (producing enormous wealth for the select few), have caused rivers to dry up, and the climate has taken a turn for the worse.

For decades, industrial waste and sewage poured into the Karun, Irans largest navigable river, without the slightest state interference. Khuzestan is reeling from unprecedented unemployment, a recession, a housing crisis and lack of access to education.

Add a lack of basic civic services to the environmental mishandling, and the systematic failure of public services, including water and electricity, and you get thousands of people pouring into the streets to protest.

It is clear those responsible for bringing on this enormous scale of ruin and tragedy will not be willing or able to offer genuine remedies. This is a regime, after all, that puts greater emphasis on Syria than its own provinces.

In 2013, a former commander of intelligence for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) proclaimed: Syria is our 35th province, and is a strategic province for us. If the enemy attacks us and seeks to take Syria or Khuzestan, our priority would be to keep Syria, because if we keep Syria, we can take back Khuzestan at a later date. But if we lose Syria, we would lose the capital Tehran.

It is no wonder that the Iranian people, choking on dust and without jobs, despise the IRGC and everything for which it stands. It should be equally self-evident for the U.S. administration that the IRGC is a terrorist entity, and should be so designated. The IRGC must be evicted from Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other countries of the region before any resolution to the regional crises can be found.

For years, some in Washington naively hoped that elusive moderates within the regime would solve everything. But even after the nuclear deal signed in the summer of 2015, the Iranian regime has been neither able nor willing to resolve the Iranian peoples multitude of problems and real-life crises. Now, with the death of their most notable moderate figure, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the chances are more remote than ever before.

Last week, the so-called "moderate" president Hassan Rouhani visited Khuzestan and unashamedly tried to deflect blame from the regime by saying that the catastrophic situation in the province is the result of "divine punishment" for the residents' inability to promote righteousness and to protect the environment.

So, instead of pinning its strategy on self-delusion, Washington now has the opportunity to find a real partner in the Iranian people and their organized opposition. For the sake of American security, policymakers need to decouple Washingtons future from Tehrans failing Islamic extremists and, instead, reach out to the people of Iran who want change, democracy, and a better life.

The regimes next presidential elections are scheduled to take place in May. In 2009, millions of protesters poured into the streets after those same elections, but, unfortunately, the Obama administration stood silent. The resentment of the population is now even deeper than it was eight years ago. The current administration should not repeat the same mistake.

Washington should adopt a firm policy against the Iranian regime and its terrorist and repressive arm, the IRGC, while vociferously standing with those who seek genuine democratic change.This time, we shouldnt stand idly by and let the dust settle in Iran.

Ali Safavi (@samsafavi) is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is dedicated to the establishment of a democratic, secular and non-nuclear republic in Iran.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

See the article here:
Failure to aid province highlights Iran's misguided priorities - The Hill (blog)

Syrians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus, on Feb. 27, 2017.

Russia is struggling to salvage its bid to secure a deal to end six years of civil war in Syria as deepening differences with Iran risk a repeat of previous failed peace efforts led by the U.S.

Things arent going as smoothly as we would want in the Geneva talks, President Vladimir Putin told reporters Tuesday during a visit to Kyrgyzstan.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov met the Syrian government delegation head, Bashar Jaafari, in Geneva, where the United Nations is holding the first round of Syria negotiations in almost a year. Hes also due to meet the main Syrian opposition group, the Western-backed High Negotiations Committee. Its demanding that Russia press President Bashar al-Assad and his other chief ally, Iran, to observe a cease-fire and discuss steps for a political transition.

Iran never wants any solution in Syria, the way they act on the ground shows that they want this war to continue, the HNCs chief spokesman, Salem al-Muslet, said in an interview in the Swiss city. Hopefully, the Russians will understand that there is a partner that does not want any political transition and they will put pressure on the regime to start the negotiations.

Russia seized the initiative in Syria after the collapse of peace attempts with the U.S. in the last months of former President Barack Obamas administration. In December, Moscow brokered a cease-fire together with Turkey, a key backer of the rebels seeking to overthrow Assad. But despite an accord last month to involve Iran in monitoring the truce, the opposition says violations are continuing by Assad forces and their allies.

The conflict in Syria since 2011 has killed at least 300,000 people, sent millions more fleeing to neighboring countries and Europe, and allowed Islamic State to seize a swath of territory from which to wage a campaign of global terror. While new U.S. President Donald Trump has called for an alliance with Russia to fight the jihadists, hes also branded Iran as the number one terrorist threat even as the Kremlin insists on including Iranian-backed and Assad forces in the anti-terrorist campaign in Syria.

Russia is in a very difficult position, its being torn between its traditional partners, Assad and Iran, and its potential partners in the fight against Islamic State -- Turkey and the U.S., said Alexander Shumilin, head of the Middle East Conflicts Center at the Institute for U.S. and Canada Studies, a government-run research group in Moscow.

Despite the cease-fire, which excludes Islamic State and forces linked to al-Qaeda, fighting is continuing in several areas including near Damascus, the opposition says. The UN on Monday said it was extremely concerned about the more than 400,000 people who remain besieged in eastern Ghoutah outside the capital. Intense fighting in and around the town has been reported over the past week, according to the world body.

Russian officials say they hope to advance discussions on a new constitution for Syria. Russia proposed a draft law for Syrias governmentlast month that would reportedly curb some of Assads powers and impose term limits.

In a mirror of the previous failed rounds of UN-led negotiations, the opposition is focusing on its demands for political transition, which it insists must include Assads departure. The Syrian leader, confident after military advances with the help of Russian air power that led to the capture of the former commercial capital Aleppo in December, maintains the fight against terrorism is the priority.

Keep up with the best of Bloomberg Politics.

Get our newsletter daily.

The HNC will propose to UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, at a meeting on Wednesday that the negotiations focus first on the formation of a genuine transitional governing body, a member of the delegation, Monzer Makhous, told reporters. If these discussions make some progress, the HNC is ready to talk about the new constitution and make terrorism one of the issues on the agenda, he said. The opposition wont accept to join a token power-sharing government headed by Assad, Makhous said.

Iran and Assad are openly opposed to Russias more flexible stance, which it sees as necessary to involve the U.S. and its allies in a post-war reconstruction and secure an exit strategy for its military campaign in Syria, said Shumilin of the Institute for U.S. and Canada Studies. This is a source of major tension, how to bring in the opposition forces without alienating Assad and Iran, he said.

Read more here:
Russia Tries to Salvage Syria Peace Bid Amid Iran Dispute - Bloomberg

The establishment of a joint bank account between Iran and Indonesia will foster financial cooperation and facilitate bilateral transactions, said the Central Bank of Irans governor. Valiollah Seif made the statement during a meeting with Indonesias Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution on Monday, CBIs website reported. Based on this system, both countries can open a bank account in each others central banks to facilitate the payment process, he said. Seif, who also heads the Money and Credit Council, said both countries can even use their local currencies for making payments, though the currency of choice must first be agreed upon by both sides. He noted that these accounts will be used only to settle bilateral trade deficit or surplus every three months. Relations between the two countries central banks will improve our banking ties and give our banks the opportunity to open branches in Iran and Indonesia, he added. Seif noted that since tourism potentials of Iran and Indonesia are high, the two countries banking card systems could be integrated for Indonesian citizens to be able to use their cards in Iran and vice versa. The Indonesian minister showed interest in Seifs proposals, noting that his trip to Iran is a follow up on his presidents visit in December. I hope that this meeting will ease our relations, especially in monetary and financial sectors. However, I believe that restoring trust between our businessmen is crucial to improve trade, he said. Nasution noted that improvement of bilateral banking relations will definitely impact investments and business. The Indonesian Oil and Natural Gas Company (Pertamina) has close relations with the National Iranian Oil Company in purchasing natural gas and oil so following our negotiations, I hope to witness expansion of business relations between Iran and Indonesia in the near future, he said. Heading a high-ranking economic delegation, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Tehran on December 2016. Several memoranda of understanding for cooperation in a wide range of fields, including banking, stock exchange, oil, paper and food, were signed between Iran and Indonesias chambers of commerce.

See the original post here:
Iran, Indonesia to Open Joint Bank Account - Financial Tribune